Is Calvin Klein Collection the Most Hated Show of NYFW?

Veronica Leoni showed her third runway collection for Calvin Klein Collection on Friday and the reviews have been… less than stellar. Which is not to say that the show was universally panned. It wasn’t. But even the ostensibly positive reviews often read more like recaps of the designer’s inspirations than actual praise of what she sent down the runway — what my mother would call “damning by faint praise.” At a time when nakedly negative reviews can and often do result in pulled advertising and even the most well-respected fashion journalists being banned from shows or blocked on Instagram, this kind of wishy-washy “criticism” has become the norm. A sort of “if you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all” approach to fashion journalism that requires the ever-dwindling number of people who actually consume it to read between the lines if they want to know how the reviewers actually feel.

And then, of course, there is The New York Times, which doesn’t appear to care a lick about being disliked — not by Calvin Klein anyway — and thus published not one, but two take downs of Leoni’s latest effort.

Cathy Horyn went all in for The Cut as well.

Check out excerpts from eight of the industry’s top reviews below, along with pictures of the full collection, so you can decide for yourself.

1. Vanessa Friedman for The New York Times:

While many reviews referenced Leoni’s use of late ’70s and early ’80s Calvin Klein as a jumping off point for the collection, only Friedman went as far as to say: “It was a mistake.”

“[Going] back to an earlier time in Calvin history is essentially going back to the time before Calvin became Calvin; the time when Calvin Klein the man was still figuring out what Calvin Klein the brand was. The time when it wasn’t just less minimal, it was less distinct — still finding its way toward what it would eventually become. Kind of confused.”

“[A] finale gown of billowing white and metallic orange silk looked as if it had gotten lost on its way to Vegas.”

Friedman seemed horrified by the presence of four-button suit jackets — “Even some four-button (four button!) jackets.” — a sentiment her colleague Jacob Gallagher expanded upon in his own NYTimes review (See below).

“There was a lot, and not all of it made sense. Especially not together.”

2. Jacob Gallagher for The New York Times

On the overall forgettable-ness of the show (and those four0button jackets): “I had to revisit the show online to recall what those sleeveless suits actually looked like. When I did, I was underwhelmed. They had four buttons down the front, with the top landing at mid-sternum. I regularly come across similar suits on eBay from Armani, Versace and, yes, Calvin. They’re baggy, unbecoming and reek of the ’90s. Their ubiquity on the resale market makes a point: No one wants this.”

“The designer, now about a year into the job, seems so preoccupied with the brand’s past that she fails to design for the present.”

3. Cathy Horne for The Cut

On the relics of Calvin Klein’s past that filled Leoni’s mood boards and informed her collection: “it’s Leoni’s job to sort through those images and find a clear path forward — that is, if the company is serious about advancing its collection line. (It paused after Simons’ departure.) But Leoni is not up to the task, judging by her latest effort.”

“She makes things overly complicated. She can’t lay down a look that excites, mostly because she’s putting out many, many looks.”

“She can’t leave well enough alone. A nice, tough-looking work jacket in cocoa brown, worn with jeans, gets lumped with a thick collar of mottled red shearling that forms a V down the back, like a relic from Jon Snow’s wardrobe.”

Calvin Klein Fall 2026

“Nor is Leoni convincing about her notion of ‘the cult of the body.’ I can’t believe there are many who would want to join this cult.”

“A plain pair of sack dresses, one in orange, another in light gray, looked fussed over and tweaked — to little benefit. (They also resembled a style that Prada did a year ago.)”

“I get the sense that much of Leoni’s understanding of Calvin and American fashion is based on abstractions. Unfortunately, that’s where the results remain stuck.”

4. Nicole Phelps for Vogue.com

“Leoni has leaned conceptual where Calvin was clean, and she has a proclivity for layering, while the house founder was a believer in reduction.”

While Phelps appeared to enjoy some of the ’70s-era CK references in Leoni’s collection, even she agreed that the mid-90s Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy era of the brand, which is currently on display in Ryan Murphy’s latest offering Love Story, would have been a better place to start. “The winning formula for the brand just might be right there on the TV.”

5. Veronique Hyland for Elle.com

“Creative director Veronica Leoni looked to those salad days, specifically the late ’70s and early ’80s, for her fall/winter 2026 collection. Since her debut for the brand a year ago, the Italian designer has brought a European sheen to its American sportswear, and this season, she put her own stamp on a particularly potent time in its history.”

“For the first time ever, the brand showed denim on the runway, and it, too, had a retro inspiration, namely a pair of 1976 jeans from its archive.”

Calvin Klein Fall 2026

“[Amid] a mostly minimalist palette, there were pops of red and orange (or, in house parlance, burgundy and clementine) on translucent trenches and gathered, parachute-like dresses—perfect for a night out at Studio 54.”

6. Mélanie Read for L’Officiel USA

Another reference to denim making it’s Calvin Klein runway debut: “An archival nod came through reinterpreted 1976 denim—the first ever presented on a Calvin Klein Collection runway.”

“Each texture contributed to the sculptural volume without sacrificing the collection’s reductionist agenda, letting the materials tell their own story, because as it turns out, minimalism can also shout.”

“This wasn’t a collection about trends. It was about dressing up to become an empowered abstraction of yourself—polished, precise, and reveling in the quiet thrill that hides beneath perfection.”

7. Nico Gavino for Hypebeast

A lot of talk of history: “Before Leoni, the brand was previously helmed by Raf Simons, under whom Leoni worked at Jil Sander. The designer’s additional experience at The Row and Celine (with Phoebe Philo) further informs her interpretation of Calvin Klein Collection, which has historically toed the line between urban expressivity and modern tailoring.

More about that denim: “In particular, 1976 archival denim, the first ever on the Calvin Klein runway, was referenced with longhand logo embroidery on an aviator jacket.”

“Standing out were translucent jackets in smoky red and taupe, echoing the gritty modernism of Raf Simons’ tenure.”

8. Emily Mercer for WWD

“Veronica Leoni reeled it in for fall 2026, presenting her most directional lineup for Calvin Klein Collection thus far.”

“During a preview, the creative director’s mood boards were filled with Calvin Klein ad campaigns from the late ’70s and early ’80s — a nod to her looking back to the source’s pivotal years for fall.”

Again with the jeans: “Leoni reintroduced and recreated the original Calvin Klein 1976 runway jean, and she should continue to explore that path rather than fall’s billowing, colorful dresses that took away from the collection’s overarching flex, sometimes literally, of restraint.”

Now, however you might feel about this collection (or the the two that came before it), you gotta give it up to whatever team is in charge of stacking the front row, because there was more star power lining this runway than any other at NYFW. If there’s one thing Calvin Klein always gets right, it’s celebrity bookings.

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